Bright future for engineering
Despite the delay to the expansion of Olympic Dam, our graduate engineers remain in extremely high demand, writes Professor John Beynon, Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences. Engineering remains at the core of Australia's prosperity, both to help deal with our problems and to make our lives better. It is a highly creative discipline, producing designs and solutions that need to work. Engineers operate to deadlines, and even if not all is known about a problem, and it never is, a solution has to be created. This is why engineers work with tolerances and safety margins, to allow for the uncertainties and vagaries of life. It is also why a large proportion of our graduates end up in non-engineering professions such as government, business, law and education: their analytical, numeracy and problem-solving skills are valued by a wide range of enterprises. These career outcomes demonstrate that our programs have value that is both specific to engineering and yet are also full of lifelong skills. The downside is that we do not produce enough engineering graduates so we fall well short of tackling Australia's shortage of professional engineers, which Engineers Australia estimates to be around 20,000. This means that over half of Australia's new engineers are brought in from overseas and explains why starting salaries for engineering graduates are so high (usually third behind dentistry and optometry). South Australia is no different to the rest of the country in needing a steady supply of engineers and it is part of the reason for the South Australian Government last year launching a strategy for science, technology (particularly information technology), engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. As a state and country, we need to develop high-tech businesses to ensure our future prosperity. The STEM agenda has become a vital plank in the rebuilding of the USA economy, with states there competing to develop a strong supply of people with these skills as a way of attracting inward investment by technology companies. The international competition for people with advanced STEM skills will remain strong. The sheer variety of engineering jobs makes definitions difficult. Many young engineers will spend a few years abroad, often with Australian companies operating there, to expand their experiences, before returning home. Engineering is a global profession, with engineers dealing on a daily basis with customers, partners and regulations on an international scale. So the engineering profession is in good health and our graduates are in demand. However, for industry in South Australia to continue to prosper, with its high operating costs, we need to grow more high tech companies and to develop higher tech within our current companies. This will require greater levels of innovation and entrepreneurship, something that the 成人大片 is already active in and is well placed to contribute a great deal more. We have the talent. We just need to push harder.
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